Lessons for a healthy life – Lesson 4
por Sônia Imenes em STUM WORLDAtualizado em 26/04/2005 11:59:14
Translation: Nancy Juozapavicius - [email protected]
In the last lesson we saw that connecting to our own body is the key to keep yourself in the here and now, anchored in the millions of years of existence it brings with it. Once more, the conscious breathing, the attention present in each action, the practice of meditation and some physical exercises constitute the first steps. Always keeping in mind that the body practices can indeed contribute to a healthier life, only if they are allied to the awareness that body and mind walk together in this process. It is necessary to get rid of the automatic and conditioned gestures. When we start this dive into our own body, we also start to enlarge the doors of perception that are our five senses, besides intuition, because we are also activating the right side of the brain that commands the cognitive non-rational functions.
The sense organs, along with breathing, are responsible for functions of mediation between our inner world and the external world. When we inspire, we absorb the prana - the cosmic energy which sustains life - and the oxygen which purifies the blood. When we expire, we eliminate carbon gas and the toxins formed inside our bodies. The eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth and skin have neural terminals which register information coming from the outside that are interpreted by the brain, and from them we express our feelings, sensations of pleasure or pain, understanding, etc.
When we anchor ourselves in our bodies and start to observe attentively our sensations and reactions, this is, when we are present in here and now instead of “being doing something thinking of some other thing”, the senses become more accurate; we start to see more vivid colors and differentiated forms of objects; to recognize distinctive sounds, close and distant; to capture details that before we didn’t realize; even to taste better the food. It’s not necessary to say that this broadening of the perceptive ability contributes considerably to our personal relationships and to our understanding of the facts.
Exercise:
Close your eyes and focus the attention on your body. Realize the position it is in: sit, stand up or laid down. Realize the points of support and sustentation, this is, the contact that your body does with the floor, chair or any other thing. Observe your breath: rhythm, flow and depth. Visualize the contour of your body and try to perceive the inner space it occupies, this is, the dimension in the internal limits of the extension of your skin. Now bring this sensation to the external limits trying to perceive the external space it occupies and the spatial relation with the surrounding environment. Visualize your position and the figure of your body inside this environment and the disposition of all the surrounding objects.
Now, without losing this acquired conscience about yourself, open the eyes and watch attentively the environment and your relationship with it, comparing it to the image you have created when you were with your eyes closed.
